Snow Globe
by Diporae
Summary: Based on Mirage Comic's "The River." A one-shot featuring Leonardo if things had ended differently for Raphael.


**A/N I do not own TMNT, but I am forever grateful for their existence!**

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Snow Globe

_"Last one there is a rotten egg!"_

He did not know what had caused him to open his eyes. For a moment, the turtle lay trying to match what he now saw to what he could see behind his eyelids. The smell of coffee and eggs wafted out from underneath his bedroom door and he could hear Michelangelo singing to himself from the kitchen. Donatello was undoubtedly already there nursing his first cup of black magic.

_He turned to see his brothers race off, and quickly began to chase after them in hot pursuit. Muscles screaming in delighted ecstasy, during each death defying jump. Eyes watering as the night air brushed past, painting their vision blurry as each sprinted to take the lead. _

Stretching contently, he pulled his legs to the side of his worn mattress, eager to join his brothers in their morning breakfast ritual. A smile played on his lips as his feet touched the cool stone floor. He went to retrieve his mask from his bedside table when all feelings of joviality cracked.

_Of course, Michelangelo would win. He always had been the fastest, but Raphael had never been one to merely admit defeat. Unable to restrain a smile, he and his other brother stood together watching as the two tumbled, trying to fight for the right of victor. When the two tussling turtles rolled before their feet, the two brothers had no choice but to join in the fray. _

The milk crate lined with newspaper and shavings saw to that – or rather what sat within that red box.

Leonardo closed his eyes and helplessly tried to summon the place he had been only moments ago. Four brothers high on the freedom of the world above, but no amount of tape could repair a globe that was already broken.

_Donatello and Michelangelo. Leonardo and Raphael. The night seemed to stretch on forever, the city hid the starlight, but there on the rooftops, the four brothers did not mind being lost in a universe of their own._

As the fluid of recollection forced its way into his reality, the turtle stood, and braced himself for something he should have come to accept. Tiny flecks of captured light escaped with the water and burned his eyes to see what the turtles' cruelty had wrought.

He knelt down before the crate and whispered in a voice brimming with the effort it took to clutch onto feelings long since forbidden. Before _it_ happened. "Hey, you hungry? Smells like Mike's almost ready for us."

A chirp responded, "Mew!"

_He lay there, happily beside his brothers, but it was Raphael's presence that comforted him the most. Their family's self-appointed protector. He called him Fearless, but really it was this brother who was the Fearless one. _

"Yeah, I'm hungry too."

Carefully, Leonardo picked up his precious cargo and began his journey to the kitchen.

_He wondered why he had forgotten that feeling. As though the devil himself could not break their world. Why then did he feel as though he were looking out from within? _

When he placed the bundle on the table, he was met with solemn silence, and so he gravely pulled up a chair beside Donatello.

Michelangelo spun around with his usual bravado, "Morning bros!" With his usual flourish, he began to fling out plates, "Leo here's your usual spinach and feta omelet, Don your eggs benedict," he turned to the final reptile, "And of course for Raph I made your favourite as always!"

Leonardo and Donatello gave their usual polite remarks. No one was surprised at Raphael's silence as he opted instead to directly plunge into his meal. Michelangelo took his seat and dove into his own bowl of sugary cereal.

_It was as though the sky and the rooftops themselves were frozen. A wall of glass memories separating it from the outside, and yet, he could not stop it from leaking._

It was not an unusual occurrence, and yet his voice only contained malice as his hand whipped out to catch a naïve insect during its brave bid for freedom, "Raphael! I swear if we have another cricket infestation-"

Donatello cut his brother off, "Leo, give him a break! You know it's not his fault."

Leonardo felt his eyes water as he moved his cricket-filled fist to his brother's bowl. Amber eyes looked up at him, "Mew!"

Whispering, the turtle opened his hand allowing Raphael to snap his head out and catch his miniature prey, "I know. I'm sorry Raph. I'm sorry."

The once mutated turtle went back to his meal without displaying any sign that he understood his brother's words.

_Was it so much to ask for his brother back?_

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**A/N Just a little something based off of the Mirage comics. The story's called "The River," and is really worth the read. Without giving too much away, Raphael actually does get reverted to a normal turtle due to his brothers' teasing (albeit accidently), and this one-shot was inspired by it.**


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